Discuss Pellegrini....

[Anonymous]

Jovetic had played about 50 mins at WHL the previous week , and presumably had trained full on since then , so you're right - it's a bit of a mystery why he didn't appear earlier.

Not really. He's not played any consistent competitive football for 8 months. He's been back in full training a few weeks and has had a history of injuries. Seems pretty obvious that he won't be risked for 90 until the docs think he's ready.

 

[silvasleftleg]

We had 2 centre backs - one of whom is one of the best footballers , and one of the best leaders we will see ,up against 1 ageing striker while a struggling would be converted centre back was chasing Hazard's shadow around all night ( even his shadow was too goo for him) that was a situation that needed remedying . I think , I may be wrong , we'll never know, that Vinnie might have done a better job.
It was apparent to me and many others that Beast was woefully out of touch/ unfit and should have been hauled off at half time at least. We saw that when he did make a change with Jovetic coming on we were much livelier and more dangerous. With that change andVK stepping forward into midfield I think we could have achieved a lot more .

By the way - I like the idea of players "choosing " to waste chances
I'm not saying any of this is directly Pellegrini's fault , but as Harry S Truman had it "the buck stops here"
You take the credit for good performances - you take the crap for the bad ones. I am sure Pellers would agree with that.

VK in defence and who should take his place in defence ? Demichelis ? hahahaha .

Why did Jovetic not come on earlier you ask ? We don't really know why. Maybe Pellegrini wanted to give Negredo more time to make an impact. Maye Jovetic wasn't fit to play more than 30 minutes. I can't tell you why Jovetic didn't come on earlier.

Why not Demichelis in defence - he's a better defender than he is a defensive midfielder especially against a player of Hazard's ability .
Do you think Hazard could have shrugged off Vinny as easily as he didMDM ? If Hazard is subdued , their midfield is not nearly so potent and I would say that they might not have even scored had we taken that step. It's not a crazy idea to nullify your opponents best player , after all Silva spent a lot of time on the turf in the first 20 mins or so.
Jovetic had played about 50 mins at WHL the previous week , and presumably had trained full on since then , so you're right - it's a bit of a mystery why he didn't appear earlier.

Do you remember our game at Stamford Bridge ? Do you remember Chelsea's first goal ? Do you know who was responsible for that goal ? Demichelis !

VK commands the back line, it makes absolutley no sense to move him into midfield and replace him with Demichelis.

I think Jovetic could only play for 30 minutes. He did come back from a long injury. MP probably didn't want to risk him.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

A lot of posters agreeing that one of the major reasons for failure on Monday was the injuries to the key players who make our style of play so effective and enjoyable to watch. Fair enough , but if you know that these players are absolutely vital to the execution of that style, and they are unavailable and that the adequate cover for those essential cogs are also unavailable, then to persist in attempting to play in that style seems odd.
Surely Pellegrini expected Chelsea to play the way they did( or at least in away to counteract our style)and not attempt to go toe to toe- as has been pointed out , they are a skilled , motivated side. He could have out thought Mourinho by adopting a style better suited to the players available to him.
It was pointed out by Hgblue I think that a style of play , any and every style ,is only a means to an end - that end being the winning of titles and trophies. It has to be accepted that the other side of that coin is the possibility of winning nothing .
Playing lovely attacking football and winning nothing? Sounds to me like Arsenal for the last 8/9 years!

Because it wasn't just this. No going into names, but a few of the bigger players didn't have their best games on top.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I wouldn't say I don't care about winning all before us this season, but irrespective of what this season yields, I know I will look upon it with great fondness.

As usual with this football club there's never been a dull moment and the football at times has been as good as ever witnessed on these shores and whilst, I repeat , I don't want this season to be a by-word for heroic failure, it's also worth remembering that the losing Holland team of 1974 has withstood the gaze of history much more robustly than the winning German one. Winning isn't everything.

Has this all been down to one man? Clearly not. Mansour's largesse and the infrastructure it has acquired has enabled this to take place, but Pellegrini has got a group of disaffected, underperforming young millionaires to play with the joy and freedom all too lacking last season. He deserves tremendous credit and comments about how he was outsmarted by Mourinho fail to appreciate (or acknowledge) the difficult hand he was dealt on Monday or for that matter that sometimes the better team wins on the night, just like we did in Munich. The way we play means were going to get mugged occasionally by teams that play like Chelsea. It's certainly preferable to having to endure watching it every week.

Whatever happens this season this team will go onto true greatness in the next couple of seasons imo. The age profile of the squad is perfect and the core players have been together for a length of time that can only pay dividends in the next 2-3 years. In the Summer get the likes of Nasri and Milner tied down on extended contracts; buy a world class centre-half and left back; bolster the midfield then light the light-blue touchpaper and sit back and enjoy the show.

It's going to be one hell of a ride and without Manuel Pellegrini I'm not sure it would be anything like as much fun.

 

[Anonymous]

The way we play means were going to get mugged occasionally by teams that play like Chelsea. It's certainly preferable to having to endure watching it every week.

There are some that would rather endure that way of playing every week because it's pragmatic.

It's why I can't get my head around the constant cries of "Pellegrini got it wrong/is naive" after our occasional loss. It's got nothing to do with that. It's people pining for another way of playing, and then using any defeat or poor result as a chance to champion that cause.

 

[OB1]

What the shit I am talking about is this .
Did you see a problem with the set up on Monday before 60mins were up?

There was no problem with the set up. There was a problem with several players who chose to waste the chances that were created for them. There was also problems at the back. Nastasic and Toure were sleeping and Silva was not tracking back. None of this is Pellegrini's fault.

Exactly this. 26 chances created, 40 crosses made with Chelsea having to make 62 clearances. That doesn't look like a set-up problem to me. Other than not scoring there's very little else we can complain about.

If Chelsea had those stats it would be described as a masterclass.

 

[celticfc482]

I remember Terry saying that they had spent 2 days training on our strengths and weaknesses, rightly or wrongly I cannot see this as something Pellegrini would do. Obviously he prepares by looking at the oppositions weaknesses and strengths but not to the degree Mourinho would. No method of doing it is right and everyone has their own ways of approaching games but sometimes it pays to really set up well to play bigger teams and to counter what they will do. The game panned out exactly how I thought it would with chelsea getting the majority of their chances via counter attacks. Maybe thinking about it, the right thing would of been to put an extra midfielder in to cover these counters better and limit them to more chances. Even something as simple as letting yaya attack more and putting someone beside MDM would of helped and the team would not of been so conscious of those counter attacks as well. I understand that we were lacking fit midfielders however but even if someone could of done a job for 50/60 minutes it could of changed the result.

 

[Bodicoteblue]

VK in defence and who should take his place in defence ? Demichelis ? hahahaha .

Why did Jovetic not come on earlier you ask ? We don't really know why. Maybe Pellegrini wanted to give Negredo more time to make an impact. Maye Jovetic wasn't fit to play more than 30 minutes. I can't tell you why Jovetic didn't come on earlier.

Why not Demichelis in defence - he's a better defender than he is a defensive midfielder especially against a player of Hazard's ability .
Do you think Hazard could have shrugged off Vinny as easily as he didMDM ? If Hazard is subdued , their midfield is not nearly so potent and I would say that they might not have even scored had we taken that step. It's not a crazy idea to nullify your opponents best player , after all Silva spent a lot of time on the turf in the first 20 mins or so.
Jovetic had played about 50 mins at WHL the previous week , and presumably had trained full on since then , so you're right - it's a bit of a mystery why he didn't appear earlier.

Do you remember our game at Stamford Bridge ? Do you remember Chelsea's first goal ? Do you know who was responsible for that goal ? Demichelis !

VK commands the back line, it makes absolutley no sense to move him into midfield and replace him with Demichelis.

I think Jovetic could only play for 30 minutes. He did come back from a long injury. MP probably didn't want to risk him.

Do you get so furious with Pellegrini every time he selects MDM in defence , because it seems to me that he thinks he can play there quite adequately.
Our back line had to deal with aged Eto'o on his own while our midfield had to deal with Hazard , Willian , Ramires etc so you can see where the pressure points were , and where action was necessary.

 

[Gillespie]

I wouldn't say I don't care about winning all before us this season, but irrespective of what this season yields, I know I will look upon it with great fondness.

As usual with this football club there's never been a dull moment and the football at times has been as good as ever witnessed on these shores and whilst, I repeat , I don't want this season to be a by-word for heroic failure, it's also worth remembering that the losing Holland team of 1974 has withstood the gaze of history much more robustly than the winning German one. Winning isn't everything.

Has this all been down to one man? Clearly not. Mansour's largesse and the infrastructure it has acquired has enabled this to take place, but Pellegrini has got a group of disaffected, underperforming young millionaires to play with the joy and freedom all too lacking last season. He deserves tremendous credit and comments about how he was outsmarted by Mourinho fail to appreciate (or acknowledge) the difficult hand he was dealt on Monday or for that matter that sometimes the better team wins on the night, just like we did in Munich. The way we play means were going to get mugged occasionally by teams that play like Chelsea. It's certainly preferable to having to endure watching it every week.

Whatever happens this season this team will go onto true greatness in the next couple of seasons imo. The age profile of the squad is perfect and the core players have been together for a length of time that can only pay dividends in the next 2-3 years. In the Summer get the likes of Nasri and Milner tied down on extended contracts; buy a world class centre-half and left back; bolster the midfield then light the light-blue touchpaper and sit back and enjoy the show.

It's going to be one hell of a ride and without Manuel Pellegrini I'm not sure it would be anything like as much fun.

May I doff my hat to such a sound and wise piece?

You, truly, Sir are the Voice of Reason.

If only more were so.

 

[OB1]

I wouldn't say I don't care about winning all before us this season, but irrespective of what this season yields, I know I will look upon it with great fondness.

As usual with this football club there's never been a dull moment and the football at times has been as good as ever witnessed on these shores and whilst, I repeat , I don't want this season to be a by-word for heroic failure, it's also worth remembering that the losing Holland team of 1974 has withstood the gaze of history much more robustly than the winning German one. Winning isn't everything.

Has this all been down to one man? Clearly not. Mansour's largesse and the infrastructure it has acquired has enabled this to take place, but Pellegrini has got a group of disaffected, underperforming young millionaires to play with the joy and freedom all too lacking last season. He deserves tremendous credit and comments about how he was outsmarted by Mourinho fail to appreciate (or acknowledge) the difficult hand he was dealt on Monday or for that matter that sometimes the better team wins on the night, just like we did in Munich. The way we play means were going to get mugged occasionally by teams that play like Chelsea. It's certainly preferable to having to endure watching it every week.

Whatever happens this season this team will go onto true greatness in the next couple of seasons imo. The age profile of the squad is perfect and the core players have been together for a length of time that can only pay dividends in the next 2-3 years. In the Summer get the likes of Nasri and Milner tied down on extended contracts; buy a world class centre-half and left back; bolster the midfield then light the light-blue touchpaper and sit back and enjoy the show.

It's going to be one hell of a ride and without Manuel Pellegrini I'm not sure it would be anything like as much fun.

You often make me smile but you really should make more contributions like this one. Love the point about one of my most admired teams, the Netherlands of '74.